IFHIMA Global NewsISSUE 16 - JUNE 2020

IFHIMA is committed to the advancement of health information management practices and the development of its members for the purpose of improving health data and health outcomes.

www.ifhima.com

President’s Message

As I write this message amid the COVID-19

pandemic I consider the stark contrast to

January when I wrote my last message.

Today, May 11, globally we have 4.3M

people who are confi rmed COVID-19 cases

and 285K deaths attributed to COVID-19.1

The numbers are viewed with some

skepticism and rapidly changing.

This pandemic has highlighted the

importance of accurate, consistent, and

timely health information, and the role health

information management professionals can

and do play amidst a public health crisis.

With that thought, IFHIMA conducted a

survey in early April to gather insight from our

members. 180 respondents shared the impact COVID-19 has had to their roles, HIM practice and much more. IFHIMA shared insights in a webcast on May 20 and 22, with respondents noting

the following work impact:

� 32.9%-- business as usual

� 11.6% --business as usual, but at an accelerated pace

� 40.6%--most or all of the functions are conducted remotely/virtually

� 10.3%--staff doing other functions such as registration, screening

� 4.5%--staff helping with privacy management, data analysis, tracking, coding

and other areas not previously within our scope

Comments from survey participants, representing challenges and new

opportunities, were aggregated to the following themes.

� Data

� Technology

� Communication

� Behavioral Impact

� Organizational Development and Management

In this issue

President’s Message ................................... 1

Resignation of Lorraine Nicholson as Membership Chair ....................................... 2

WHO-FIC Network Annual Meeting 2019: Health Information Meets Health Informatics ....................................... 3

World Health Organization’s Family of International Classifi cations (WHO-FIC) ...... 4

Introducing the Regional Director from Australia ....................................................... 5

Examining HIM Workforce for the Future .... 6

Social Media Workgroup ............................. 7

IFHIMA Launches ICD-11 Whitepaper Workgroup ................................................... 7

HELINA 2019 ............................................... 8

Special issue on Clinical Coding and the Quality and Integrity of Health Data. ......... 10

MEDRECON 2020 the 20th National Annual Conference ................................................ 11

Capturing Social Determinants of Health-related Activities in Electronic Health Records ..................................................... 13

The Position of Research Among Health Information Management Professionals in Alfrica Region: Issues, Challenges and Prospects. ................................................ 14

Update from Saudi Arabia during COVID-19 ....................................... 16

Australia during a time of COVID-19 ......... 16

A Memorable Visit by Honourable Guests 17

Our Journey to the OHIMA 2020 Virtual Conference ................................................ 18

California Health Information Association (CHIA) Pivots to Virtual Convention ........... 19

Lorraine Fernandes, RHIA

IFHIMA President

2019-2022

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Many respondents pointed out the “silver lining” to this crisis,

including the ability to demonstrate HIM’s strong skillset and

knowledge in diverse areas including data collection and

data integrity, and privacy management. One of the Survey

respondents shared—“This crisis has enhanced our role in

the hospital as a nuclear department. We have had to rapidly

adapt our focus and work out how we can best help the

hospital from our position.”

If you weren’t able to join the webcast, please listen to the recording here.

The webcast gave IFHIMA the opportunity to launch our new

LinkedIn group and promote our global contributions. Please

join the IFHIMA LI group here to follow our member and

association activities.

The past (and I suspect upcoming) months illustrate the

importance of an agile, adaptable workforce amid the switch

to a virtual business approach in many countries. In this issue

you can read the article Vera Dimitropoulos shared about

WHO FIC EIC holding their April meeting via Zoom. Many

national, regional and global associations are pivoting to

virtual meetings to keep their membership abreast of trends,

new requirements, and new opportunities. I hope you will

take advantage of these opportunities.

It is spring in northwest

Montana as this picture

illustrates; demonstrating the

resilience and adaptability of

mother nature after winter.

I hope this resilience and

spirit is within each of you

as we do our part in creating

and promoting individual

and global health. This is

perhaps best illustrated by

the IFHIMA Vision crafted

during Marci MacDonald’s Presidency-- “A healthy world

enabled by quality health information.”

Stay safe, be well.

Lorraine Fernandes, RHIA

IFHIMA President

2019-2022

1https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/about/

Resignation of Lorraine Nicholson as Membership Chair

IFHIMA as a volunteer organization relies on the time and

talent of our volunteers, as we have no paid personnel.

Lorraine Nicholson from the United Kingdom, and volunteer

extraordinaire, has served as the Membership Chair for the

past six years and has recently resigned this position.

We extend a hearty “thank

you” to Lorraine for her

years of service to IFHIMA

in her role as Membership

Chair, as well as her many

years in serving as the

unofficial IFHIMA Board

liaison to Africa, where she

is affectionately known as

“The Mother of HIM.” Her

decades-long commitment

to Africa has nurtured new

leadership in the five African national members, as well as

new HIM professionals in these and other countries.

Her tenure on the Board as Regional Director, President Elect,

President, and Past President was from 2000-2013. Of note,

Lorraine attended her first IFHIMA Congress in 1984 in Auckland,

New Zealand, which sparked a lifelong commitment to the

Federation. During her term as President she led us down a

progressive path, overseeing the Federation name change from

IFHRO to IFHIMA at the 2010 Congress in Milan, Italy.

During recent years Marci MacDonald (Canada) has

shadowed Lorraine in IFHIMA’s commitment to succession

planning, and Marci assumed the Membership Chair role in

early 2020.

Lorraine is continually sought after as an international consultant

in all areas of Health Information Management, being widely

respected professionally for her knowledge and expertise.

This is not “bon voyage” to Lorraine’s IFHIMA involvement.

Rather, it’s wishing her well in the next phase of her retirement

and we look forward to her feedback, advice and wisdom to

the Federation she influenced and shaped!

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WHO-FIC Network Annual Meeting 2019: Health Information Meets Health Informatics

The 2019 annual meeting of the World Health Organization

Family of International Classifi cations (WHO-FIC) Network

took place in Banff, Canada in October. The theme was Health

Information meets Health Informatics. The WHO-FIC annual

meeting sessions provide the framework for intensive face-

to-face meetings of each of the WHO-FIC committees and

reference groups; a conference component, which provides

the opportunity to share experiences related to the conference

theme; and for the WHO-FIC Network Advisory Council to

meet to review progress in relation to the strategic work plan

of the WHO-FIC network and plan for the future.

ICD-11, especially transition planning, was a major topic.

ICD-11 has been updated for the 21st century, refl ects

critical advances in science and medicine, and offers many

improvements over ICD-10. New and improved electronic

tools have been developed to facilitate the use of ICD-11,

including coding, browsing, and mapping tools. One change

in ICD-11 when compared to ICD-10 is that it includes

some functioning and disability concepts in order to raise

awareness of the International Classifi cation of Functioning,

Disability and Health (ICF) and introduces functioning and

disability concepts in information systems. The expanded

quality and safety content are also a signifi cant change in

ICD-11 when compared to ICD-10, but that means coding

quality and safety concepts is more complicated in ICD-11.

ICD-11 will accelerate the automation of coding, which

will present new roles or opportunities for coders. ICD-11

will liberate coders from mundane work and allow them

to use more advanced skills and expertise. One potential

new role for coders to transition into is that of an auditor.

Coordination with clinical terminologies is also expected to

accelerate with the implementation of ICD-11.

During a roundtable discussion around what countries need

to be thinking about when planning for the ICD-11 transition,

it was noted that national governments need to have a

strong commitment to adopt ICD-11. The ICD-11 transition

roundtable discussion produced some common planning and

preparation activities.

� Demonstrate the benefi ts of ICD-11 to all stakeholders,

including clinicians;

� Engage stakeholders;

� Estimate transition costs;

� Develop crosswalks (e.g., between ICD-11 and national

modifi cations and quality measurement instruments);

� Ensure comparability and quality of statistics during and

after the transition;

� Translate ICD-11 into native languages; and

� Prepare and train workforce (coders, clinicians, other

affected stakeholders).

It was noted that training programs are diffi cult to develop

without fi rst defi ning the scope of individuals performing the

coding function.

Countries shared activities they had undertaken in preparation

for moving to ICD-11. In Canada, an ICD-11 fi eld testing

project involved a small group of coding experts who coded

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3000 randomly selected medical records from three hospitals.

These coding experts received 20 hours of classroom training

in ICD-11 and 40 hours of homework. Eighty-eight percent

(88%) agreement was achieved on coding the main condition.

More coding practice and opportunities to discuss coding

scenarios were found to increase coder confidence. In

Rwanda, a pilot project involving incorporation of ICD-11 into

an electronic health record system was undertaken. With only

basic ICD-11 training (1-2 hours), a reasonable level of coding

accuracy was achieved using “smart search” functionality.

A status report was given on the International Classification of

Health Interventions (ICHI). Field testing of ICHI will end in early

2020. ICHI was developed by the WHO to provide a common

tool for reporting and analyzing health interventions for statistical

purposes. A health intervention is an act performed for, with or

on behalf of a person or population whose purpose is to assess,

improve, maintain, promote or modify health, functioning or

health conditions. ICHI covers interventions carried out by a

broad range of providers across the full scope of health systems

and includes interventions on: diagnostic, medical, surgical,

mental health, primary care, allied health, functioning support,

rehabilitation, traditional medicine and public health.

Authors:

Sue Bowman, MJ, RHIA, CCS, FAHIMA Senior Director, Coding Policy and Compliance American Health Information Management Association (USA)

Margaret A. Skurka, MS, RHIA, CCS, FAHIMA IFHIMA WHO FIC EIC and MbRG representative Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus Indiana University Northwest (USA)

World Health Organization’s Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC)

Education and Implementation Committee (EIC) Mid – Year Meeting Report

The WHO-FIC EIC met for its mid-year meeting via a two hour

Zoom videoconference on Thursday 23 April 2020. Due to

COVID-19, the Zoom meeting was organised to replace the

cancelled mid-year face to face meeting in Canberra, Australia

which was scheduled during the first week of April 2020.

The videoconference was well attended by EIC members and

observers from all over the world and was used to report on

finalised tasks from the EIC’s strategic work plan as well as

to virtually progress outstanding tasks for finalisation by the

annual WHO-FIC meetings scheduled in October 2020 in

Bangkok, Malaysia. At this stage it is unknown as to whether

the Bangkok annual meetings will take place face to face due

to international travel bans in place related to the COVID-19

pandemic.

As well as finalising the meeting minutes from the EIC

meeting held in Banff, Canada, last October, Members

from the WHO classifications team provided an update

on their work related to ICD-11 which was released as the

implementation version in June 2019. As well, they reported

on the progress of finalising the International Classification of

Health Interventions (ICHI) and the modernisation work which

is continuing on the International Classification for Functioning

and Disability in Health (ICF). The WHO team also provided

a brief update on ICD-11 implementation around the world

that was informed by submissions from several countries to

the EIC prior to the meeting. This was followed by two short

presentations on the classification of patient quality and safety

using ICD-11 and the use of ICF in Spain.

A number of EIC sub-groups have been established to finalise

some outstanding tasks on the EIC strategic work plan. The

sub-groups tasks include:

1. Finalising the development and coding of term sets and

scenarios in ICD-11 for ICDFit (ongoing work from the

Banff meeting).

2. Preparation of the use case for the new WHO-FIC

Implementation Database (being developed by the

WHO Team) as well as the development of a succinct

questionnaire template on implementation (ICD-11, ICF

and ICHI) for the WHO-FIC Implementation Database. This

EIC sub-group (established during this conference call) is

to also provide detail on the output requirements of the

WHO-FIC Implementation Database.

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3. Establish a gold standard for WHO-FIC education materials and review and

update international assessment/certifi cation strategies. EIC volunteers are

needed following this mid-year Zoom conference to virtually work on the

following tasks:

� Develop performance criteria/algorithm for creating new education

materials as well as for the assessment of existing materials with a focus

on ICD-11 curricula development

� Identify international clinical coder competencies for both mortality and

morbidity

� Develop morbidity exam questions and scenarios for ICDFit including a

review and recoding of the ICD-10 training material into ICD-11

� Develop mortality case scenarios for identifi cation and coding of cause of

death applying the ICD-11 mortality rules

� Develop a sustainable process for clinical coder recertifi cation exams for

both mortality and morbidity

� Revamp of the WHO-FIC Trainer database in light of ICD-11.

If you are interested in fi nding out more about the EIC and its work within the

WHO-FIC, please visit the new EIC website at: https://hscic.kahootz.com/

connect.ti/WHO_FIC_EIC/grouphome

The EIC website provides many useful WHO-FIC educational resources (e.g.

WHO-FIC Information Sheets, the Beta Version of the ICD-11 Education Tool) as

well as links to various resources available from the WHO website.

Author:

Vera DimitropoulosCo-Chair, WHO-FIC Education and Implementation CommitteeMay 2020

Introducing the President Elect from Australia

Dr Kerryn Butler-Henderson is the Associate Professor for Digital Innovation in

Health and Health Pedagogy at the University of Tasmania in Australia. She is

known for her passion and dedication to the promotion and advocacy of the

health information workforce in Australian and internationally. She is Co-Chair

of the HIDDIN Workforce Research Collaborative, which undertakes research

examining the Health Informatics, Digital, Data, Information and knowledge

workforce and the impact of digital health on health professionals in general.

As a leader in health information management and health informatics in

Australia, Kerryn is a Fellow of the Health Information Management Association

Calendar of eventsGhana Health Information Management AssociationTransforming the Health Systems in Ghana; the role of Health Information ManagersOctober 6-9, 2020Tamale, Northern RegionLanguage: English

American Health Information Management AssociationOctober 14-17, 2020Georgia World Congress CenterAtlanta, Georgia, USALanguage: English

CHIMA - Collected and Curated - Empowering accurate thoughtful health informationWinnipeg, Manitoba, CanadaOctober 5-6, 2021Language: English

Please visit IFHIMA.org for most recent events.

Webcast

COVID-19On Demand

IFHIMA is pleased to share the webcast recording from our May 2020 webcast “IFHIMA COVID-19 Survey Results.” This recording and the questions participants shared during the webcasts are a culmination of the survey work conducted in late March through mid April 2020. We thank the IFHIMA members for their strong participation and rich comments shared.

Watch the Webcast >

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of Australia (HIMAA) and

Fellow of the Australasian

Institute of Digital Health

(AIDH). She holds

positions on several

national and international

boards and committees,

including President Elect

and Australian Director

of IFHIMA, Director of

Examining HIM Workforce for the Future

The world of work is changing. This is true across the globe

with the advent of big data, machine learning, and artifi cial (or

augmented) intelligence, as well as other ever-accelerating

technological advances. It is also true for health information

management professionals. To help the HIM profession

prepare, IFHIMA convened a volunteer Workforce Workgroup

in early 2020. The goals of the workgroup are to:

� Provide a snapshot of the history of the Health information

Management profession, globally and with national

highlights that have progressed the profession.

� Undertake an environmental scan of the current workforce

and the systems the workforce services.

� Examine the literature about the workforce, the systems

the workforce services, and technological trends to enable

forecasting for the future workforce confi guration and

needs.

� Provide recommendations on how the profession needs to

transform on a global scale to remain contemporary and

relevant.

The Workforce Workgroup recruited volunteers in January

and February of 2020, holding the fi rst meeting on March 10,

2020. Joining Drs. Butler-Henderson and Fenton in writing the

white paper will be the following the Workforce Workgroup

members:

� Cassandra Rupnik, Australia

� Kelly Abrams, Canada

� Ramona Kyabaggu, Canada

� Deepa Nair, India

� Sooneeraz Monohur, Mauritius

� Hussein AlBishi, Saudi Arabia

� Guillermo Paluzie, Spain

� Mandy Burns, United Kingdom

� Debra Primeau, United States

Dr Kerryn Butler-Henderson

the AIDH and Chair of their Fellowship and Membership Committee, and Deputy Chair of the Certifi ed Health Informatician Australasia Board Examination Committee.

Kerryn is an Associate Editor on the BMJ Health and Care

Informatics journal and a reviewer for several journals. She

supervises PhD and higher degree research students and is

involved in several industry projects. Her research

specialisation is in workforce analysis, where she leads

a large National study with international collaborations,

maintaining the fi rst national census of the HIDDIN workforce.

Her numerous publications and presentation on the

workforce makes her one of the leading experts in this area

internationally.

As such, she co-chairs the IFHIMA workforce white paper

working group, examining what is required to position the

health information management workforce to be sustainable

in the 21st century. Kerryn is also part of a leadership group

establishing a global research community of practice, with

further information to be provided in a future Global News. As

President Elect, Kerryn is working closely with the President,

Immediate Past President and Board to provide IFHIMA with a

strong foundation for the next fi ve years.

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In addition, several volunteers have agreed to serve as

readers to thoroughly review the white paper once it is

drafted. They are:

� Tanija Tarabay, Australia

� Carol Adam, Canada

� Karima Lalani, United States

When the workgroup met in March they established sub-

groups to divide and conquer the work. They will focus on

HIM history, the HIM workforce literature, current educational

trends, a global view of the HIM role in health care systems,

current and future technological trends, closing with a

discussion and specific recommendations. Their goal is to

have a completed white paper in spring 2021.

Authors:

Susan H. Fenton, PhD, RHIA, FAHIMA

Kerryn Butler-Henderson, PhD

Social Media Workgroup

Exciting News! On 24th February, 2020, the IFHIMA Social

Media Workgroup was formed!

The goal for the IFHIMA Social Media Subgroup is to enhance

social media tools to improve membership collaboration and

build the IFHIMA brand and image. Wide deployment of

social media tools will catalyze organizational communication

and support growth goals through educational opportunities

and continuous professional development.

Members include Sandy Bissen (Co-Chair, USA), Sally

McIntosh (Co-Chair, Australia), Deneice Marshall (Board Liaison,

Barbados), Isah Rufai (Nigeria), Isaac Eyram Tegbey (Ghana),

Kelsea Auguillard (USA), Emily Kiemele (USA), Elisha Dawkins

(USA), Mustafa Aljarrah (USA), and Nathan Suber (USA).

A survey was sent to workgroup members on 30th March,

the responses to which revealed that LinkedIn was used

by all members, with most preferring this application for

communication. Other social media applications used

frequently by a majority of members include Facebook,

Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and WhatsApp. Responses to

other survey questions indicated that these social media

applications were used to login to other websites, all

members used a chat application (most on a daily basis),

such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Skype,

and SnapChat, and most preferred LinkedIn to engage other

IFHIMA members.

The first piece of exciting news from the workgroup is that an IFHIMA LinkedIn page has been launched! The page can be accessed via the below link:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/65371411

The first workgroup meeting was scheduled for 13th May,

2020 where the roles and responsibilities of members, as well

as the next actions for the group, were established.

If you have any queries or suggestions concerning social

media, please contact Sandy (sabbissen@centurytel.net) or

Sally (sallyemac@gmail.com).

IFHIMA Launches ICD-11 Whitepaper Workgroup

As all HIM professionals know, ICD-11 is the eleventh

revision of the International Classification of Diseases. It will

eventually replace ICD-10 as the global standard for coding

health information and causes of death. In May 2019, ICD-

11 was officially endorsed by all WHO members during the

72nd World Health Assembly. It will officially come into effect

on January 1, 2022 at which time member nations may begin

reporting morbidity and mortality statistics using ICD-11.

Given that ICD-11 is looming on the healthcare horizon, the

IFHIMA Board of Directors approved forming a workgroup

charged with creating a whitepaper to educate IFHIMA

members and other key stakeholders on ICD-11 and the

role of health information professionals. Chaired by Ann

Chenoweth, MBA, RHIA, FAHIMA, this workgroup includes

representatives from around the globe, including Canada,

Australia, Barbados, Africa, Indonesia, United States, Japan,

Spain, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.

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The goals of the ICD-11 whitepaper are the following:

1. Demonstrate Health Information thought leadership in this

core practice area,

2. Influence industry stakeholders to include health

information professionals in ICD-11 planning and

implementation (by demonstrating our credibility, skills and

expertise),

3. Advance the global understanding of the value of ICD-11

throughout the world,

4. Help countries prepare for ICD-11, and

5. Educate audiences on ICD-11 development/

implementation strategies and how they vary throughout

the world, including developing nations.

During the workgroup’s kick-off meeting in April, the target audiences for the whitepaper were identified:

1. World Health Organization (WHO) leadership team and

other key stakeholders

2. Ministries of health, statistical agencies and government

officials responsible for ICD planning, implementation and

reporting

3. Health information professionals around the globe

Many countries are in the process of reviewing projected

timelines and resources needed to prepare for the transition to

ICD-11. Health information professionals play a critical role.

Now is the time to become knowledgeable about ICD-11

and inform the conversations within your countries and your

organizations.

IFHIMA’s ICD-11 Whitepaper is expected to be published in

October 2020.

Author:

Ann Chenoweth, MBA, RHIA, FAHIMA

AHIMA National Director to IFHIMA

HELINA 2019

The 2019 edition of the Pan-African health informatics

conference (HELINA) took place in Gaborone, Botswana from

20th November 2019 to 22nd November 2019. The HELINA

2019 conference was hosted by the University of Botswana

(UB) through the eHealth Research Unit in collaboration

with the Botswana Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoHW),

Ministry of Transport and Communication (MTC), Botswana

Institute for Technology Research and Innovation (BITRI),

Botswana Health Information Management Association

(BoHIMA), and Kenya Health Informatics Association (KeHIA).

The main focus of the conference was how digital health

can be harnessed to “...achieve Universal Health Coverage”

in Africa. 175 delegates attended the HELINA 2019 who

represented 18 countries worldwide and various professions

with a keen interest in health Informatics.

HELINA 2019 conference also featured 3 parallel pre-

conference workshops on the 19th November, 2019, namely:

1. Drone Technologies for public health and related fields

2. Data Science in Healthcare

3. Scientific Writing workshop

UB and Botswana International University of Science and

Technology in conjunction with the Botswana Civil Aviation

Authority (CAA) co-hosted the Drone Technologies pre-

conference workshop which was aimed at exploring drone

technologies for public health and related fields with the

goal of developing a draft policy on the use of drones for

healthcare product/service delivery. The one day drone

workshop was conducted on the 19th November, 2019 and

was hugely successful with delegates spoilt for choice on

content and demonstrations of varied drone technologies.

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One of the key pre-conference activities was on Data Science

offi ciated by CDC Atlanta. Data and information are the

lifeblood of public health. Rapid advances in information and

communications technology are creating profound changes

in how the public health workforce collects, manages, shares,

analyzes and uses data and information, at the molecular,

organ, patient and population levels, to inform decision-making

and improve health outcomes. Designing, implementing and

reproducing these value-generating processes require inter-

disciplinary knowledge and skills, and collaborative problem

solving. During this workshop, attendees explored the

development and use of digital case studies in public health

using Jupyter Notebook, an open source data science platform

for working with reproducible, shareable computational

narratives about solving problems in public health informatics.

Participants gained practical knowledge in using the Jupyter

Notebook ecosystem of tools and increased capabilities

to utilize data using descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and

prescriptive analytics and visualization methods to inform

program implementation and improvement, identifying gaps

and/or needs, and support decision making.

The third pre-conference workshop was on Academic

Scientifi c Writing by the HELINA Education Working Group

(EWG), titled “Academic writing: from concept to publishing”.

This one day FREE workshop was held at the University

of Botswana before the main HELINA 2019 conference. It

was hosted by two Fellows of the International Academy of

Health Sciences Informatics. Professors Frank Verbeke, Vrije

Universiteit Brussel, Belgium and Graham Wright, Rhodes

University, South Africa. They are both active researchers

with Clinical, Management and Health information systems

backgrounds. Delegates were involved in an intense exercise

but enjoyable. The aim was to produce a journal paper to

which all contributors will be named as authors.

Overall the HELINA conference got positive feedback from

participants, indicating that it was valuable, informative and

well organized.

The HELINA 2019 theme was “From evidence to Practice:

The Implementation of Digital Health Interventions in Africa for

Achievement of Universal Health Coverage”.

Offi ciating at the event, Minister of Health and Wellness,

Dr Lemogang Kwape, outlined his ministry mandate and

reiterated its commitment to the improvement of healthcare

in the country. Dr Kwape therefore underscored research,

data access and analytics for decision making as critical

to building a sustainable health system for universal health

coverage. He said there is need for real time data and its

use were paramount if his ministry were to realize its mission

of delivering quality health services, policy formulation,

standards and guidelines of health services. Dr Kwape

added that the conference was timely in that it was coming

at a time Botswana was gearing up to embrace the fourth

Hon. Dr. Lwmogang Kwape, Minister of Health - Botswana, offi cially opens the HELINA 2019 conference, Gaborone, Botswana.

Hon. Dr. Kwape graces the 2019 HELINA conference. With him (L to R): Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health and Wellness, Ruth Maphorisa, Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs- Ubiversity of Botswana, Prof. O. Nkomazana, Chief Executive Offi cer - BIRI, Prof. S. Masupe, Dean of Science, University of Botswana, Prof. Atlhopheng.

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industrial revolution. He said that was because the choices

made today about how the country managed, controlled and

utilized its healthcare would shape the future of its healthcare

management and patient care. As such, Dr Kwape said given

the steady development of Botswana’s e-Health environment,

the Ministry of Health and Wellness recently fi nalized an

e-Health Strategy to ensure that e-health contributed to the

strengthening of the health system and health outcome of

Batswana. He observed that the strategy was aligned with

the 71st World Health Assembly Resolution on Digital Health

adopted in May 2018 which urges member states to assess

their use of digital technologies for health to identify areas of

improvement to promote universal health coverage (UHC).

Authors:

Mr. Kagiso Ndlovu, Dr. Aubrey MokotediDr. Gontlafetse MosweunyaneTebo Leburu, Star ChibembaMr. Steven WanyeeMs Susan Gathu

Special issue on Clinical Coding and the Quality and Integrity of Health Data.

Australia’s Health Information Management Journal (HIMJ)

is the peer-reviewed international journal of the Health

Information Management Association of Australia (HIMAA).

In January 2020, HIMJ released its very fi rst ever Special

Issue. Given clinical coders make up such a large part of the

health information workforce, it was most appropriate that

the focus of this fi rst Special Issue should be Clinical Coding,

and the quality and integrity of health data. The Special Issue

is published as Issue no. 1 of Volume 49 (January 2020), and

showcases 10 national and international papers discussing

many of the issues that affect data quality both currently and

in the future. These include computer assisted coding, the

role of clinical documentation specialists, barriers to coding

quality and the resulting impacts of these barriers in such

areas as DRG assignment.

The papers are introduced in an Editorial by Jennie

Shepheard, who has decades of experience as a HIM and

Principal Health Information and Classifi cation Advisor for

the Department of Health and Human Services, Victoria

(Australia). This collection of papers raises awareness of how

important the clinical coding function is to the quality and

integrity of our health data, and as Jennie says. “challenges

us all to fi nd solutions that will improve the quality of coded

data, protect its integrity and support the clinical coding

workforce.”

The Editorial and papers are available through the hyperlinks

below.

Editorial

Clinical coding and the quality and integrity of health data

By Jennie Shepheard

Narrative Review

Computer-assisted clinical coding: A narrative review of the

literature on its benefi ts, limitations, implementation and

impact on clinical coding professionals

By Sharon Campbell and Katrina Giadresco

Research Articles

A qualitative evaluation of clinically coded data quality from

health information manager perspectives

By Chelsea Doktorchik, Mingshan Lu, Hude Quan, Cathy

Ringham, and Cathy Eastwood

HELINA 2019 Group Picture

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Health records as the basis of clinical coding: Is the quality

adequate? A qualitative study of medical coders’ perceptions

By Vera Alonso, João Vasco Santos, Marta Pinto, Joana

Ferreira, Isabel Lema, Fernando Lopes, and Alberto Freitas

Suicidal and self-harm presentations to Emergency

Departments: The challenges of identifi cation through

diagnostic codes and presenting complaints

By Jerneja Sveticic, Nicholas CJ Stapelberg, and Kathryn

Turner

Importance of coding co-morbidities for APR-DRG

assignment: Focus on cardiovascular and respiratory diseases

By Julio Souza, João Vasco Santos, Veronica Bolon Canedo,

Amparo Betanzos, Domingos Alves, and Alberto Freitas

Validation of ICD-10 codes shows intracranial venous

thrombosis incidence to be higher than previously reported

By Joel D Handley and Hedley CA Emsley

A review of the complexity adjustment in the Korean

Diagnosis-Related Group (KDRG)

By Sujeong Kim, Chaiyoung Jung, Junheum Yon, Hyeonseon

Park, Hunsik Yang, Hyeon Kang, Dongjin Oh, Kukhwan Kwon,

and Sukil Kim

Commentary

The importance of clinical documentation improvement for

Australian hospitals

By Patricia Hay, Kathy Wilton, Jennifer Barker, Julie Mortley,

and Megan Cumerlato

Forum Article

Malnutrition defi nitions in clinical practice: To be E43 or not to

be?

By Wendy Phillips, Jennifer Doley, and Kelli Boi

Author:

Joan Henderson, BAppSc (HIM) (Hons 1), PhD (Med)Senior Research Fellow (Hon), University of SydneyEditor, Health Information Management Journal (HIMJ)

Joan.henderson@sydney.edu.au

MEDRECON 2020 the 20th National Annual Conference

MEDRECON 2020 - the 20th annual national conference of

the Health Records Association of India (HERAI) organized

and hosted by Health Informatics and Health Information

Management Association (HIIM) Kerala State was held at

Nihara Resort, Kochi, Kerala on 7th& 8th February 2020.

The theme of the conference was “Value of Data in Health

Care Ecosystem, its quality and eloquent uses in healthcare

practices, delivery and decision making”. MEDRECON 2020

was a remarkable milestone for HIM profession in India, as it

was for the fi rst time a national level HIM conference held in

the presence of the honorable IFHIMA president.

The grand inaugural ceremony witnessed a special address

on the importance of big data and Artifi cial Intelligence

in emerging healthcare scenarios by the Chief Guest

Dr. Madhu Raikwar, Director - Central Bureau of Health

Intelligence, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of

India. Ms. Lorraine Fernandes, the President of International

Federation of Health Information Management Associations

(IFHIMA) was the Guest of Honour and delivered keynote

address titled “The new decade: What lies ahead for the HI

and HIM Professions” on the fi rst day of the conference.

HERAI President Mr. Suresh Carlton and Dr. Sabu Karakka

Mandapam, President HIIM association welcomed the

MEDRECON 2020 Meeting. Data Privacy Panel deliberations.

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gathering and emphasized about the signifi cance of HIM

profession in India. Mr. Mujeeb C Kandy and Mr. Selvakumar

Swamy, President HERAI- International also spoke about

the importance of the conference theme and highlighted

the excellent support received from HIM professionals from

across India and the Gulf region for the successful conduct

of MEDRECON 2020. Ms. Lorraine offi cially released the

MEDRECON 2020 souvenir during the inaugural session.

The conference was attended by around 500 delegates from

all over India, including a sizeable number of international

delegates from United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kingdom of

Saudi Arabia and Sultanate of Oman. The professionals from

diverse fi elds of healthcare such as Directors, CEO’s, Health

Information Managers, Healthcare IT experts, Revenue cycle

managers, Medical records offi cers, Executives, Hospital

administrators, and Clinicians participated in the conference.

More than 100 HIM students from various institutions

across India made the conference sessions more vibrant.

MEDRECON 2020 was also awarded with 4 AAPC CEUs,

which added more value for the conference sessions and

benefi cial for the participants.

In two days of the conference, 30 scientifi c sessions were

held under eight themes with lots of meaningful deliberation.

A special panel on ‘Data Privacy’ led by Ms. Lorraine

Fernandes was well received by the delegates. Dr. Osama

Elhassan, Dubai Health Authority was the keynote speaker for

the second day and he spoke about ‘eHealth Implementation

in United Arab Emirates - Case Study’. Eminent 30 speakers

from national and international level shared their expertise

through various sessions held under following themes:

� Emerging Data Uses, Information Governance & Resource

Needs

� Revenue Cycle Management & Clinical Coding

� Clinical Documentation Improvement & Patient Experience

� Governance, Leadership & Laws on HIT

� Data Standards, Data Uses & Data Quality

� Accreditation, Healthcare Settings & Process Flows

� Documentation & Data for HIM

On the fi rst day, several HIM professionals were recognized

for their contributions towards the HIM profession during

the awards ceremony. An exciting cultural show depicting

the traditional art forms of Kerala and performance by HIM

students was the center of attraction during the award

ceremony held at the end of the fi rst day of the conference.

A post conference workshop on ‘Clinical Coding and Clinical

Documentation Improvement’ for HIM professionals was

held on 9th February. AHIMA qualifi ed trainers conducted

the workshop on Cardiovascular CPT coding, CDI program

implementation for IP and OP settings, ICD-10-CM and ICD-

10-PCS – practical approach. Around 25 HIM professionals

participated in the workshop and the workshop has been

credited with 5 CEUs approved by AHIMA. All the scientifi c

sessions of the conference and workshop were video recorded

and made available for the benefi t of registrants who were not

able to attend the conference and workshop. Subsequently, the

recordings of the sessions will be made available in the public

domain as educational modules. The MEDRECON organizers

would wish to place on record the support received from

various exhibitors and sponsors, especially the MEDRECON

2020 learning partner – Centre for Health Information Studies

and Solutions (CHISS) Kerala, India.

Author:

Dr. Sabu K M, M.App.Sc, PhD.Professor of HIM, MCHP, MAHE, Manipal, IndiaPresident – HIIM Association- Kerala State, India.

sabu.km@manipal.edu

MEDRECON 2020 Conference – Inauguration ceremonies

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Capturing Social Determinants of Health-related Activities in Electronic Health Records

The impact of social

determinants of health

(SDH) on the health

of Canadians is well

documented. 1,2 Yet few

health organizations

routinely collect SDH and

related interventions in

electronic health records

(EHRs).3 Even for those

wanting to collect such

data, there is no common

SDH terminology or

implementation guidance

in place to ensure

the data are encoded

consistently with the same meaning across systems.4 Different

SDH factors and related interventions have been reported in

the Canadian literature, such as the use of PROGRESS as an

equity lens from the University of Ottawa5 and the stratifi ers

for measuring health inequity from the Canadian Institute for

Health Information.6 These variations are largely driven by

local contexts, priorities and available resources to address

SDH-related needs.

In the United States, the PRAPARE (Protocol for Responding

to and Assessing Patients’ Assets, Risks and Experiences)

initiative is a national effort to assist health organizations

to collect the data needed to better understand and act on

patients’ SDH.7 The initiative has created a suite of resources

that includes a set of core and optional SDH measures,

an action toolkit, training materials, studies underway and

lessons learned. For SDH terminology, Arons has examined

coding schemes for 20 SDH domains in six published

assessment tools and found 1,095 existing screening,

assessment/diagnosis and treatment/intervention codes that

can be used to document SDH related activities.8,9 In Canada,

a similar initiative led by Dr. Andrew Pinto et al. is underway

to reduce inequities through the routine collection of SDH

in primary care with promising results.10 Outstanding work

ahead include reaching consensus on the SDH measures,

terminology and coding schemes for the EHRs, how the SDH-

related information is used, and the extent to which patients’

voices are represented. Having standardized SDH terminology

will enable the collection, use and exchange of SDH

information across EHRs and organizations. Canada needs to

increase the capacity of HIM professionals knowledgeable in

health terminology standards.

Author:

Francis Lau PhD, FCAHS, ProfessorSchool of Health Information Science, University of Victoriafylau@uvic.ca

@francislau1 #HealthTerminologyStandards #CCHIMCTSS #HINF

References

1. Public Health Agency of Canada. Key Health Inequalities in Canada– A National Portrait. 2018.

2. Toronto Public Health, St. Michael’s, CAMH and Mount Sinai Hospital. We ask because we care: The Tri-Hospital + TPH Health Equity Data Collection Research Project Report, 2013. Available from http://www.stmichaelshospital.com/quality/equity-data-collection-report.pdf

3. Venzon A, Le TB & Kim K. Capturing social health data in electronic systems –a systematic review. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing 2019;37(2):90-8.

4. Freij M, Dullabh P, Lewis S, Smith S, Hovey L & Dhopeshwarkar R. Incorporating social determinants of health in electronic health records: qualitative study of current practices among top vendors. JMIR Medical Informatics 2019;7(2):e13849.

5. O’Neill J, Tabish H, Welch V, Petticrew M, Pottie K, Clarke M, et al. Applying an equity lens to interventions: using PROGRESS ensures consideration of socially stratifying factors to illuminate inequities in health. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 2014; 67:56-64.

6. Canadian Institute for Health Information. In Pursuit of Health Equity: Defi ning Stratifi ers for Measuring Health Inequity. April 2018.

7. National Association of Community Health Centers. PRAPARE - Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patients’ Asses, Risks and Experiences. [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): NACHC; c 2018 [cited 2018 Feb 5]. Available from: http://www.nachc.org/research-and-data/prapare/

8. Arons A, DeSilvey S, Fichtenberg C & Gottlieb L. Documenting social determinants of health-related clinical activities using standardized medical vocabularies. JAMIA 2019; 2(1):81-8.

9. Arons A, DeSilvey S, Fichtenberg C & Gottlieb L. Compendium of Medical Terminology Codes for Social Risk Factors [Internet], 2018. Available from https://sirenetwork.ucsf.edu/tools-resources/mmi/compendium-medical-terminology-codes-social-risk-factors

10. Pinto AD, Glattstein-YG, Mohamed A, Bloch G, Leung FH & Glazier RH. Building a foundation to reduce health inequities: routine collection of sociodemographic data in primary care. Journal of American Board of Family Medicine 2016;

29(3):348-55.

Francis Lau PhD, FCAHS

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The Position of Research Among Health Information Management Professionals in the African Region: Issues, Challenges and Prospects

Research is an academic tool for the advancement of knowledge and practice in

all human endevours. Earl (2016) conceptualized research as a systematic inquiry

to describe, explain, predict and control the observed phenomenon. Research

brings about essential changes for the development of any nation. The required

changes in Health Information Management (HIM) entails formulation of related

policies and regulation on education and practice in health sector. This paper

highlights the position of research among HIM Professionals in the African Region

- issues, challenges and prospects.

The issues in form of questions are: what are the positions of HIM researcher

towards influencing government affairs in the region? Do HIM professionals carry

out scientific research that could stand the test of time? To what extent does the

governments feel the impact of HIM research activities?

The challenges includes weak educational drive, misplacement of priority, poor

funding, and inadequate HIM educational structure to mention but a few.

The prospects of HIM research in the region of Africa include measuring health

sector performance, providing quality data to determine educational standard,

assist in policy direction of governments and enhance standardization of medical

practice, governmental assurance of informed planning, implementation, monitoring

and evaluation of its programs and projects (Lawal, & Oluwatoyin, 2011).

The Staff strength of HIM professionals in Africa, for example Nigeria is

about 35,000 and are found more at the operational level than at the tactical,

strategic level or at the academic circle in the Universities. This therefore,

informed a positional research setback and more palpable in all the developing

Countries across the globe. Literature has shown that most of the research

work being carried out are mere academic exercise for the purpose of bagging

a certificate(Abdullahi, A. A., Senekal, A., Zyl-Schalekamp, V. C., Amzat, J &

Saliman, T.,2012). Pat Utomi (2018), at an international conference in Nigeria,

opined that Nigeria (the giant of Africa) has about 170 public Universities but are

rated almost the last in Africa in terms of research outcome and implementation

for National development. Despite that no single University is offering BSc. HIM;

Special interest group (SIG)

A special interest group (SIG)

is being formed for those with

an interest in health information

research. The HIM Research SIG

is currently in the planning stage

with several leaders across the

globe involved. Central to this

initiative is the development of the

research skills of HIM practitioners.

The SIG will include podcasts and

community forums, and shared

resources to support people who

are interested in undertaking

research. Further information will

be distributed via IFHIMA when the

online SIG platform is finalized.

If you are interested in

participating, please contact:

Dilhari DeAlmeida

Global News Editor

drd7@pitt.edu

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why? May be because of the limited interest/ignorance or

misplaced priority; although private Universities are taking

the lead. Babcock University has produced 7 PhD holders in

Nigeria as of 2017. Ghana, Botswana, Kenya and Tanzania

have started making headway. Observation and records also

shows that the academic staff of Universities are promoted

only based on the number of articles they publish in academic

journals or else remain stagnated but unfortunately HIM

Schools in most countries of the African Region are termed

Monotechnics and being managed under State Ministries

of Health and Teaching Hospitals, which is service oriented

organizations (Orbach, (2001). As a result of these, research

work by HIM professionals are not determinants of their

promotion.

It is difficult to say that the government in Africa feels

the impact of HIM research findings and the their

recommendations. Scholars like Obikeze (1979); Jimoh

(1998); Omodia (2006); Kamba (2008); Dauda (2010);

Odia and Omofonmwan (2013) and Mapolisa & Mafa

(2013) identified the problems bedevilling the progress

of research in Nigeria, could be viewed under the following

categories : Absence of a clear cut philosophy of national

development , Cultural and Ethical Issues, and political

atmosphere. Achebe, C. (1958)in his book ”things fall apart”

opined that if the appropriate personnel were not put in

place, the centre cannot hold. Example is that no single HIM

professional was ever made a Director of planning, research

and statistics at the apex Federal Ministry of Health or as a

Minister of Health from 1960 to date despite the fact that the

Health Records Officers Registration Board of Nigeria was

established since 1989 through degree 39 to regulate the

training and practice of the profession.

Literature, observations and experience were used to

determine the issues, challenges and prospects of HIM

research position in African Region. The issues, challenges

and prospects of HIM research are all manmade, although

HIM knowledge managers if identified could bring about

the desired changes and set the stage for Health sector

innovations in Nigeria as a case study (Kamba, 2008).

Having known the University and Monotechnic status in

Africa, IFHIMA, being the global voice of HIM profession in

official relationship with WHO could influence the country

Governments to accord HIM research the priority it deserves.

Authors:

Babale G. N. BSc (HIM), BSc (Data Mgt), MHPM, MSc (I. T.) ;

Paul A. Oyebanji BSc (HIM), PGD (Edu), MHIM

Babagana A. K. G. BSc (Anatomy & Physiology), PGD (Edu)

School of Health Information Management, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, PMB 1414, Maiduguri

Scholarships available!

At The College of St. Scholastica, our students not only earn a top-ranked degree, but they also join a close supportive network that opens doors to success.

100% online programs and certificates • BS HIM • MS HIM • Post-Baccalaureate HIM Certificate • MS Health Informatics • Health Informatics Certificate

Advance your career with a degree or certificate

go.css.edu/IFHIMA2019

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Update from Saudi Arabia during COVID-19

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared

COVID-19 outbreaks as a global pandemic on March 11th

2020, the number of COVID-19 cases continued to increase

globally at an alarming rate. As of April 21st 2020, the number

of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Saudi Arabia was around

10,484 and over 2.4 millions worldwide.

“As healthcare professionals and scientists around the world

are fighting the pandemic, the role of Health Informatics

and Health Information Management (HIM) professionals

is very crucial for the understanding and containing the

spread of COVID-19. Access to high-quality data can speed

up the process of knowledge and scientific discovery. It is

extremely important to document and code COVID-19

cases in a consistent, accurate, and complete manner” said

Abdulrahman Jabour, PhD, the chair of the Saudi Health

Information Management Association (SHIMA).

“At SHIMA, we are committed to increase awareness and

improve the practice among HIM professionals and the

healthcare community. Our approach is to provide the support

and education related to Clinical Documentation and Coding”

Said Hussain Albishi, SHIMA president.

In response to the pandemic, SHIMA is working on advancing

the HIM and Health Informatics professions through advocacy,

communications, education, and research, by disseminating

knowledge and information to accurately document and code

COVID-19. Also, SHIMA announced launching an email for

answering coding inquiries. SHIMA also conducted a live webinar

about Influenza surveillance systems and coding standards of

COVID-19 delivered by Abdulrahman Jabour, PhD and Nasser Al

Balawi. This came as a part of a series of free webinars planned

by SHIMA featuring experts discussing various HIM and Health

Informatics topics during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Link to the webinar:

https://youtu.be/RAyhQWm_4ok

Australia during a time of COVID-19

“Without doubt the best quality we observe across the entire

Australian community is a natural willingness to pitch in and

have a go, to help others. We see it of course whenever

there is an emergency or a worthy cause. We see it in every

community volunteer organisation from the lifesavers to the

bushfire brigades through to the thousands of youth and

mature age sporting clubs and those great international

service organisations like Rotary and many others. We see it in

our professional bodies such as the police, fire and ambulance

services and of course in the defence force. It is a generosity

of spirit and a selflessness that is perhaps our most precious

heritage to hand on to younger and newer Australians - a

nation of people who care for and look out for each other.”

- Peter Cosgrove, the Australian Governor General

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The words of Peter Cosgrove aptly summarise the spirit of

Australians during this difficult time of COVID-19, and the

Health Information Management profession epitomises this.

HIMs are involved in the planning and set up of COVID-19

clinics across the nation, implementing systems to support

the capture of COVID-19 data, and analysing or reporting

the data to support our nation’s COVID-19 strategy. Whilst

these are challenging, and often sad, times for everyone,

the response from health organisations have highlighted the

importance of HIM.

The 2020 national conference for the Health Information

Management Association of Australia (HIMAA) and the

scheduled one day forum with the Australian College of

Health Service Managers have both been deferred until 2021.

HIMAA is now organising a series of webinars to continue

the professional development opportunities, with the first one

addressing Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) held at

the end of April. In addition to the valuable information gained

through the webinars, members are able to obtain Continuing

Professional Development (CPD) points for their attendance.

The HIMAA Special Interest Groups (SIGs) such as the

National and NSW Private Hospital, eHealth and Scanning,

International HIM, Rural and Remote, Victorian Mental Health

Advisory, and newly formed CDI SIG, continue to ensure

efficient and continuous shared knowledge and professional

networking between health information professionals. In

addition to these groups, the tireless work of our State

Branches continues to strengthen our profession. Other vital

work continuing in Australia include the development of a

National Health Information Strategy, with HIMAA and HIMs

providing input at several workshops around the country (pre-

COVID-19).

Most exciting is the upcoming HIM Awareness Week (11-17

May 2020), where members from across Australia promote

the profession in their organisations and across industry. It is

also a great opportunity for students to get involved through

poster presentations. We look forward to sharing some of the

wonderful displays from HIM departments and students in the

next edition of Global News.

Authors:

Kerryn Butler-Henderson (Australian Director) Sally McIntosh (Australian Deputy Director)

A Memorable Visit by Honourable Guests

To the Matrishishu Miteri Hospital, Pokhara-16, Nepal

It is rare and unexpected that a very important occasion

comes into our lives and these occasions remain in our

memories for our lives! Such an occasion occurred for me at

my workplace at the Matrishishu Hospital in Pokhara, Nepal

on 18th February 2020. The hospital received a visit from

the British Ambassador to Nepal, Nicola Pillot, and Nichola

Page, an advisor at the British Department for International

Development (DFID).

I was invited and honoured to organize the program for this

important visit. The first objective of the program was to

enable interaction with members of the hospital staff to help

our guests understand the current situation at the hospital and

observe first-hand the services provided by departments and

sections directly impacting hospital services, which in turn

directly impact the safe motherhood AMA program in field

level hospitals.

The second objective of the visit was to enable interaction

with the Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVS) group

to help them understand the impact of the AMA program at

community level. There is an increasing trend for institutional

deliveries in all service sites in Nepal, which improves the

safety of “at risk” mothers and decreases our maternal death

rate.

DFID directly supports the National AMA (national maternal

care) program in Nepal and this program has had a positive

impact each year. We salute the British Government and DFID

and thank them for their support of this important program.

Leadership from across the hospital departments and

government participated in the program planning and actual

visit.

During the program I provided a verbal briefing on the hospital

situation and the provision of a short summary sheet for

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participants based on the annual Hospital Review Paper,

which I prepared for the annual hospital review program.

During the session our honorable guests raised queries about

the AMA program’s status in the hospital, the hospitals patient

catchment area and the Health Insurance program. They also

asked if the hospital had any issues with the AMA program,

patient satisfaction and overall hospital issues and whether

they were taken seriously.

The second component of the interactive program was for

Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHV’s). This session

was followed by a program of direct observation starting with

the hospital maternity department. This session comprised

monitoring of service delivery and dialogue with patients in

the ward.

There followed short visits to the Emergency Department,

The Laboratory, the Pharmacy, the central counter electronic

billing section, phase one of the newborn care unit and

all-service section in the hospital. Our Honorable Guests

also valued their opportunity to view the hospital site and to

engage directly with front-line staff.

We all have very happy memories of this special and

important visit by our Honorable Guests. We offer our sincere

thanks to the British Ambassador to Nepal, the DFID Advisor

and the British Government for making this visit happen.

Author:

Laxman Sharma Paudel, Medical Records Officer

Matrishishu Miteri Hospital, Nepal

Our Journey to the OHIMA 2020 Virtual Conference

The Ohio Health Information Management Association hosts

the largest state HIM show in the United States with over

900 attendees and 75 exhibiting companies. The conference

is held annually mid-March in Columbus, Ohio. One week

prior to the 2020 conference – OHIMA was moving forward

with caution while closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation.

While there were cases of COVID-19 on the west coast, there

were zero cases in Ohio as of start of business on Monday,

March 9th. The global HIMSS conference in Florida and the

Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio had been cancelled; but

both had international presences while 90+% of OHIMA

attendees and exhibitors were from within Ohio and 100%

were from within the United States. OHIMA leadership

discussed the concerns surrounding COVID-19 at-length

and repeatedly the weeks approaching the conference. Any

decision to change or cancel the OHIMA Annual Meeting &

Trade Show would have a dramatic impact; therefore, such

a decision could not be made without justifiable and serious

reasons. Late Tuesday, March 10th – five days before the

conference was scheduled to begin – the OHIMA Board of

Directors made the difficult decision to cancel the in-person

portion of the OHIMA Annual Meeting & Trade Show. The

situation in Ohio began changing hour by hour which made

it impossible to accurately assess risk and the health of

attendees, exhibitors, speakers and staff was a top priority.

Several new developments occurred in Ohio the day that the

decision was made:

� Cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Ohio

� A state of emergency was declared by Governor DeWine

� More and more employers are prohibiting travel including

several large employers who had intended on sending many

employees to the OHIMA annual conference

� Several colleges suspended in-person classes

� There were discussions about prohibiting mass gatherings

of over 100 people; later that week, Ohio Governor DeWine

would issue an Executive Order banning mass gatherings.

Because of the OHIMA conference size, there are only two

venues in Columbus large enough to host an OHIMA Annual

Meeting & Trade Show (the current venue of the Hilton at

Easton and the Columbus Convention Center). Both venues

book events 3-5 years in advance. This fact, coupled with

limited exhibitor and speaker availability and staff resources, it

was impossible to simply postpone or reschedule the OHIMA

2020 Annual Meeting & Trade Show. Cancelling the in-person

portion of the OHIMA conference presented serious financial

implications for OHIMA. If attendee registrations and exhibitor

booth fees were refunded – in addition to paying all expenses

(which was a likely occurrence due to cancelling so close to

the event) – as a small association, OHIMA may no longer

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exist due to the long-term financial impact of this decision.

This financial concern – along with the fact that members

still needed CEUs – it was decided to offer the educational

content of the OHIMA Annual Meeting in a virtual format!

Over the next week, OHIMA Board Members and Staff

implemented and executed a plan to record over 30 hours of

educational sessions and provide them to meeting attendees

in a virtual, recorded format to watch at their convenience. On

March 23rd, access instructions for the OHIMA 2020 Virtual

Conference were provided to conference attendees. With a

robust Learning Management System implemented just a few

months prior, the educational session recordings were posted

so that the system tracked which presentations were viewed

by individual users and CEUs were automatically added to

the users’ OHIMA profiles. Because attendees could listen to

the General Session and all breakouts available on the day(s)

they purchased, at least 10 CEUs were available each day,

with over 30 for the entire conference. This number of CEUs

offered was double the usual 5 per day, 15 per conference

available at the in-person Annual Meeting. While it was a

whirlwind two weeks, overall, the conversion of the OHIMA

Annual Meeting into a Virtual Conference was a true success!

Registration was re-opened and the total registration count

exceeded the number that would have attended the in-person

conference. Contact the OHIMA Central Office if you’d like

to register and attend the OHIMA Virtual Conference (www.

ohima.org).

Author:

Lauren Manson, RHIA Executive Director – Ohio Health Information Management Association (OHIMA)

California Health Information Association (CHIA) Pivots to Virtual Convention

Q&A with Sharon Lewis, Executive Director

How and when did the association decide to go virtual?

With only two months prior to the planned face-to-face event,

the status of shelter-in-place unknown, and the health and

well-being of California’s health information professionals a

top priority, the CHIA Board of Directors made the decision

to pivot to a virtual convention. The team is committed to

offer a first-class learning experience and is working with the

speakers and exhibitors to deliver the content both in live and

pre-recorded sessions. There are several different moving parts

to this endeavor. Sharon has been attending and meeting with

IFHIMA GLOBAL NEWSInternational Federation of Health Information Management Associations ISSUE 16 - JUNE 2020

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other association professionals and other component state

association leaders to learn more about the steps involved with

transitioning the program from in-person to virtual.

What type and extent of the discussions did you/

association have?

As an Executive Director, Sharon is actively involved in

an organization within the state of California dedicated

to association professionals. Through that association,

Sharon has been discovering a variety of ways to offer virtual

programs and learning from other professional associations

who are experiencing the same challenges during this

unprecedented time. She has also been in contact with the

OHIMA and other component state associations to discover

how those health information associations are transforming

their events. Additionally, CHIA continues to hold regular

Board and other meetings to discuss the best path moving

forward.

What were the logistics of reaching out to all the speakers/

vendors and how did you convey to them about the

changes? When did you make these decisions (how close

to the date of the actual in-person meeting?)

Sharon and team are still finalizing some of the logistics.

To date, the majority of communication has been via

email; however, many telephone calls have been made to

both speakers and exhibitors. The plan is to pre-record

approximately forty (40) track sessions and offer the general

sessions via live webinar on the originally scheduled dates.

CHIA is planning to offer a virtual House of Delegates. The

team is in discussion with their exhibitors as the staff are very

interested in incorporating exhibitor offerings into their program.

Lessons learned? Positive/Challenges?

We all realize that this is completely new and unchartered

territory and are committed to providing value to California’s

health information professionals as we work through the

details. Having minimal experience in providing virtual

educational events; looking back it would have been

extremely beneficial to have completed the research prior to

identifying the need to pivot the association’s offerings. We

are discovering there are varying degrees of virtual offerings.

Does it include live synchronous sessions? Pre-recorded

content? What works best? What type of technology platform

is most beneficial to use, what type of technology is needed

to house the content? At this time, there appears to be more

questions than answers; however, we are learning rapidly.

With all this been said, the ‘light’ is at the end of the tunnel

and the association recognizes the potential benefits to this

pivotal shift. We are learning that out of adversity comes

opportunity, and that CHIA can provide new and innovative

solutions for increased engagement, member interaction and

enhanced learning offerings for California’s health information

professionals.

Author:

Sharon Lewis, MBA, RHIA, CHPS, CHPQ, CAE, FAHIMA Executive Director California Health Information Association (CHIA)

Interviewed by:

Dilhari DeAlmeida, PhD, RHIA Global News Editor

IFHIMA GLOBAL NEWSInternational Federation of Health Information Management Associations ISSUE 16 - JUNE 2020

www.ifhima.com21

Note from the EditorWelcome to our second GN issue for the year. I hope you all

are staying safe and healthy during the pandemic! Hope you

found this issue to be interesting, relevant and informative. As

a reminder, IFHIMA publishes Global News two or three times

per year with the intent to highlight national association news,

share board activities in support of the IFHIMA mission and

strategic plan, and keep members abreast of other IFHIMA

activities

I encourage contributions from all of our member nations to

make it a truly global newsletter. Please feel free to contact

me with your ideas and questions. A copy of the guidelines

can be found at:

https://ifhima.org/editorial-guidelines/

Dilhari DeAlmeida, PhD, RHIA Drd7@pitt.edu

Disclaimer:Contributions to Global News are welcomed from members

and non-members of IFHIMA and articles should be typed

and sent by e-mail to the Editor, Dilhari DeAlmeida (drd7@

pitt.edu) for consideration for publication. Responsibility for

referencing in any article rests with the author. Readers should

note that opinions expressed in articles in Global News are

those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the

position of IFHIMA.

PS: If you do not wish to receive further IFHIMA/IFHIMA

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